Cake Festivities!















And I'm..... done with cake.

Happy Birthday our little Anders! What a year it has been! From a jaundiced little preemie to a big healthy one year old. We are so thankful for every moment we have had this year with you!

We had an extremely busy weekend ending with a very nice evening at my parents house for a bar-b-Q last night. Anders was a total trooper through hours of driving and missing naps and going to bed late.
On Saturday night we drove out to Simi Valley to visit some good friends that are about to become parents any day. We wanted to see them before the craziness began. We got home around 11:30 and then got up early to drive out to Malibu for church. Going to church with Chris has been quite an event because we have to leave an hour before we need to be there and we need to be there about two hours before church starts so that he can set up the sound stage and work with the musicians and such. There is no nursery care so most of the service I am pacing around the building trying to find something for Anders to do. Anyways Sundays are always a production and yesterday was no exception. We were home for a couple of hours and then headed over to my folks house for a birthday/fathers day dinner. I turned 31 yesterday so I got to request the menu as is the Cox family custom. I chose barbecued ribs. Yum!
I found a horribly bright orange shirt that said "Worlds Greatest Dad" on it so Chris indulged me and wore it to dinner. =0)
Lately Anders has begun to show signs of becoming a certified "daddy's boy". He follows Chris all around the house and wants to be held whenever possible. Chris is a WONDERFUL dad and gives him lots of attention!

I had to post a blog just for the purpose of advertising my sister Erin's new web page.It is a support system for people with Crohn's disease. She has been pretty much symptom free since she started the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, and she has been excited about sharing it with others. So if you know someone with Crohn's then send them her way!

Last week was a fun one with sister Erin visiting from Texas. On Thursday we went down to Malibu to look at the ocean. I also wanted to show Erin where we go to church. Chris was working on a project that day at the performing arts center that's located in the building with the church, so we were able to visit him as well. The next time I see her she will be a mom! We can't wait to meet the new little cousin.

I just returned from Erin's baby shower over at gma's. I can't wait to meet Erin's little guy come September! It's fun to see my little sister pregnant and happy and I know how much she will enjoy being a mom.
The last couple of weeks Chris and I have been talking about the need to move out closer to where Chris gets most of his work. He will possibly be working everyday in Sherman Oaks starting in late June and the commute can be pretty horrific. We've looked at the cost of apartments and houses (really expensive) and we've just kind of been waiting for the right opportunities to open up. One friend knows someone who may have a rental property somewhere on the other side of the San Fernando valley. Another friend is selling their mobile home in Malibu and we are seriously looking into that option. It's a two bedroom two bath with an office off of the master bedroom. There's a back, side and front yard that is surprisingly spacious and it comes with a ten person jakuzzie (totally usless in my opinion although I may take that back). There are a few obsticles that we are working through this week regarding this place and we will know pretty soon what we are able to do. We love the area of the mobile home community. It backs up to Malibu Creek state park and it's 10 minutes from Chris' Sunday job at the church. We would be so happy if it worked out. It's one of those things that is just close enough to hope for and yet isn't possible just yet.
I'm sure I'll write about it whether we get it or not.

Here are a few pictures of my experiences this week. All week I have had this pile of ironing that has needed to get done and I've avoided finishing it for various reasons. Today is the day to finish it.
Yesterday I set Anders in the middle of the living room floor in his high chair with no clothes on so that he could enjoy a very messy teething cookie. Those things are like clay when they dry! I'm trying to introduce "chew" foods so that I can just cut things up and give it to him instead of pureeing everything or buying it.

Today Kristy and James came over for a swim day and while we were eating lunch the boys found great amusement in the Tyra show. We might as well be asking for our kids to grow up to be ADD!

JUMP-N-JAMM'N!








Today was especially fun. Kristy and I took our little guys to an indoor play park called Jump-n-Jamm'n. There is a section just for tiny tots where they can crawl and todder around. Everything is cushy so that they can fall to their hearts content. They had a blast even though they both missed their very important morning nap time. Anders was a little overwhelmed at first but James led the way and soon he was venturing out and trying to climb up the toys. I'm sure that next time we take them they will even have more fun! They both fell asleep as soon as we got in the car to drive back home.
It was a relief to get out into a new fun environment where Anders could crawl and play in a safe fun place.

Here are some hilights from last week with Chris' mom visiting. The pictures are of our trip to Dana Point from Monday-Wednesday. We stayed at the Blue Lantern inn and enjoyed every minute! Anders got a new Teddy bear from Grandma Jensen which he loves to snuggle with. Gma J. was able to spend lots of time with Anders, and Chris and I were able to have some relaxing time together ALONE! Thank you Eloise!!
One of the things that surprised me about going on vacation was all of the stuff that was needed for just two nights! The top picture shows how stuffed our car was.


Anders enjoyed seeing new places and most of all enjoyed holding my keys.... simple pleasures.
Not only is the Teddy bear a hit but so is the bow. It apparently tastes like chicken!

I just wanted to write a list of attributes that I appreciate about my mom. Now that I'm a mom I TOTALLY appreciate everything she did for us over the years. (And all the things she put up with!) Here they are.




You are creative, extremely patient, hardworking, practical, a very good teacher, pro-active, thoughtful, loyal, interesting, interested, you read to us until you lost your voice every night, you kept a clean house despite us, all of the hours spent sewing cute clothes for us, all of the fun trips you planned, you made good memories with us, you were and are always willing to help with whatever we need.

Thank you mom!

Here are a couple of pictures that I took of Anders at around 7:45 this morning at a local park. I decided to get some cute pictures for mothers day. Hopefully my mom and mother-in-law won't see this post before Sunday! I took tons of pictures but these were my favorite expressions.

We had two fun milestones this week with with Anders. First, he went into the big pool with dad for the first time. He loved it! Second, today he started to crawl forwards which was a big one because for a long time he either couldn't get over one leg and so he would rock back and forth. Or if he did get over that leg he would crawl backwards and be extremely frustrated. The picture below, I took today and I find it funny that I put all of his toys into the hallway to play and that is where I used to put Bubba the Chinchilla! It really is the perfect play area for baby or beast.

I finally am writing about the last few weeks after a bit of a blog silence. We have been busy as always with work, baby, and life but along with that we found out that we were expecting again. We actually found out the Friday before Easter. There were some mixed emotions about having another baby because for one, we are still getting used to the first baby! I also wasn't sure about how my body could handle another pregnancy so soon after my first experience. I had just resolved to work one more day a week and try to earn a little more money and Chris has been looking into a couple of different job options. So finding out that another baby was on the way was a surprise. We were planning on trying for a baby when Anders turned one so we weren't too far off from our goal.
Last Wednesday was my first pre-natal appointment and I was glad to be going because I had had a little spotting and I was worried. The doctor said that it probably was nothing to worry about and did the exam. We didn't do the ultrasound because we didn't have our insurance yet and the procedure would have been expensive. It did concern me that we wouldn't get to see what was happening but I figured that we would find out eventually.
For some reason I couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong and by Friday I was really concerned. I had started cramping a little and the spotting continued and was a little worse. So, around 4:00pm I took Anders over to Grammy and Pa Pa's (my grandparents) along with a few diapers, pj's and a bottle and dropped him off. Chris was working in Burbank which is about 45 min away without traffic. I called him and he started out to meet me at the ER. When I got there I checked in and they took some blood and alot of information and sent me back out to the waiting room to wait for a room to open up. I ended up waiting for a good two hours and thankfully Chris showed up somewhere in there. By the time I was shown to a room I was having full blown contractions and was VERY uncomfortable. I never did go through labor with Anders because he was so early and we had a c-section. So this was quite new. Of course Chris was extremely supportive and surprisingly helpful and I was sooo grateful to have him there. The nurse came in an tried to give me an IV but couldn't get a vein so he brought in another nurse to help. Eventually after a few failed attempts they found what they were looking for. Within a half an hour my body did what it was trying to do and I miscarried. Immediately my contractions stopped and despite the sadness of the loss I felt much better physically. After lots of waiting around I was wheeled up to the ultrasound room to see if I would need any more procedures. We were blessed to not have any complications and I was able to be sent home at around one in the morning.
The thing that surprised both Chris and I was our broad range of emotions. We were sad, yet also a bit relieved. I don't think my body was ready to carry another pregnancy yet and for some reason I knew that and had been worried from the moment I found out about the baby. There was a sense of rest in the fact that we weren't in control of the situation. It is difficult to process a loss and we are trying to talk about it as we need to. We have a good support system around us and we are really grateful for each person that has already been so kind and understanding.
We are looking forward to eventually trying for another little one but probably not until Anders is a tad more self-sufficient!

I was just going through my blog role and I had to put up a link to my sis Erin's blog. Last week they had there very first Texas Tornado experience. It was hair raising to say the least!
Another favorite this week was Friar Tucks blog about an interesting road trip. If you like road trips you'll enjoy this one!
Have fun reading blogs!

Today Anders is with Grandma and I am taking the opportunity to whirl around and try to bring order to the house once again. I'm waiting for the three loads of laundry to finish washing so I can transfer them to the dryer. Doing laundry is an ordeal for me and I really loathe doing it. A while back I realized that I needed something with wheels on it so that I could haul bigger loads of laundry in one trip. I found a cart that is made for hauling leaves, and other outdoor debris and has these great all terrain wheels on it so I can bump it up and down our stairs with no problem. Chris thought it was a bit over the top but I have to say that it was the best purchase ever!
Next on my list is the pile of clothes in our bedroom (all mine) and straightening up Chris' office.
One of the best pieces of news I received this week is that we are at the top of the list for a down stairs apartment! There was some kind of miscommunication between the management and the owners about whether or not tenants could move from a two bedroom upstairs to a two bedroom downstairs. There had been a list and we were on it and then some how somebody thought that it was against the rules so the list got tossed out. I was totally discouraged because I was sooo looking forward to less stairs while I haul baby, baby gear, groceries and laundry back and forth. So, it looks like we are just waiting for the right apartment to open up!
Ok, I'm back to cleaning now.

Lately Anders has been really proud that he can hold on to things and stand up. He is trying to pull himself up but can't quite master the art yet. So I prop him up on various pieces of furniture and let him stand there until he lets go. His balance is pretty good and he is really showing a desire to get around more. So it looks like I will have to pull out the plug protectors and other baby proofing devices fairly soon.

Thank goodness for park days with friends! Last week on Thursday me, Ariana, Kristy and the kiddums walked to a nearby park in Whittier for a little picnic. Amelia and Anders still aren't getting around yet but James is a crawling machine and kept trying to grab whatever was near to stuff in his mouth. Kristy had her hands full!

Yesterday was spent at my mom's house making a few batches of baby food. It was really an enjoyable afternoon and I was happy about all of the food we made for not very much money! Gerber is convenient but the cost can really add up. We made turkey with onions, peas and carrots, butternut squash and sweet potatoes....lucky Anders! It is in the freezer at my parents house until I see them probably tomorrow.


Anders was pretty tuckered out by the end of the day. It's hard being nine months old!

Easter was spent at Gma and Gpa Seelye's house. Anders felt pretty awful most of the day due to an ear infection which we didn't get diagnosed until Wednesday. So Sunday was pretty miserable for both him and me. He a had a fever and was mostly inconsolable most of the day except for a few lovely hours at the party! He is better now due to daily doses of antibiotics.
He was pretty intrigued by the "cheeto carrot" that aunt G. brought!

It has been a while since I posted! We have been busy as usual with parenting, work, trying to keep up with the house, Easter, and much more. I was going back over some of my old posts and realized how much my energy level has changed since I've had Anders. I find myself being much less creative and a lot more utilitarian. I now post for the sole purpose of sharing Anders growth with family that can't see him regularly. And of course for the interested friends and family around here as well!

I look forward to the future (not sure when) blogs that branch out from baby life. Of course there will always be plenty of pictures of the little ones because I can't quite get away from being proud of "my young".... Speaking of which I'll be posting some new pictures very soon.